William Dorsey Pender

William Dorsey Pender (6 February 1834-18 July 1863) was a Major-General of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War and a divisional commander in the Army of Northern Virginia. Pender was mortally wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863.

Biography
William Dorsey Pender was born in Edgecombe County, North Carolina on 6 February 1834, and he graduated from West Point in 1854, becoming a Second Lieutenant in a US Army artillery regiment and a cavalry regiment. Pender fought against Native Americans in Washington, but he resigned from the army on 21 March 1861 after the Confederate States of America seceded from the United States. Pender became the colonel of an infantry regiment in the Army of Northern Virginia, and he was promoted to Brigadier-General after the Battle of Seven Pines in June 1862. President Jefferson Davis himself promoted Pender on the battlefield, and he would distinguish himself at Manassas, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. Pender was promoted to Major-General and given command of a division, and Robert E. Lee admired his prominence in every battle, his bravery, and the fact that he was wounded in nearly every battle in which he had fought. On 2 July 1863, he was wounded in the leg by a shell fragment during the assault on Cemetery Hill, and he was evacuated to Staunton, Virginia. His leg was amputated, but he died on 18 July from his wounds.